


I Will Always Protect You

by DizzyDrea



Category: Intelligence (US TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Getting Gabriel out of his head, Loyalty, Romance, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-10
Updated: 2014-02-10
Packaged: 2018-01-11 19:50:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1177217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DizzyDrea/pseuds/DizzyDrea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Riley swallows. Is she compromised? Hell yes she's compromised. She was compromised the second he turned those baby blues on her and asked for her trust. And she'd <i>be</i> compromised even if she wasn't having sex with him. <i>How is this her life?</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	I Will Always Protect You

**Author's Note:**

> I really wasn't going to start writing for a new fandom, but I love this show and the relationship between Riley and Gabriel. There's some obvious sexual tension between them, so naturally this is where Muse goes. 
> 
> Intelligence belongs to Michael Seitzman, Tripp Vinson, Barry Schindel, Vinson Productions, ABC Studios, CBS Television Studios and a lot of other people who aren’t me. I am doing this for fun and for practice. Mostly for fun.

~o~

Riley Neal steps into the office and stands at loose parade rest. "You wanted to see me, Lillian?"

Lillian Strand looks up from the document she'd been reading, slipping her glasses off and tossing them onto the desk. They skid a little, but even that small movement is a tell. Riley hasn't made it to where she is without being able to profile people. Lillian's pissed.

"Would you mind telling me what you were thinking?"

Lillian's voice is a sharp whip-crack in the silence of the office, and if she weren't as highly trained as she is, Riley might have winced at the tone. As it is, she sighs internally. _What is it with bosses who think you can read minds?_

"You'll have to be more specific, ma'am."

"Oh, don't ma'am me," Lillian says. She pushes up out of her chair and rounds the desk, leaning against it with her arms crossed. The move is designed to bring out an air of informality, but the crossed arms are still screaming pissed, so Riley braces herself for the explosion. "Just tell me what the hell you thought you were doing?"

Riley frowns. "I'm not sure what you mean. I—"

But whatever she was going to say is cut off, steamrolled by Lillian's next words. "I _mean_ , you and Gabriel. What's really going on with you two? And don’t give me 'I'm just protecting him'. Give me a little more credit than that."

Well, that's that then. She's a Secret Service Special Agent, so she'd thought she was doing a better job at covering than that. But apparently working for CyberCom means that they know all your shit before you do. She debates for about a nanosecond just flat-out lying to Lillian. She'd lay good odds that the woman doesn't know what's going on and is simply fishing. But, if she does know, Riley's not going to win any points by lying to her boss. And as much as she wants to protect Gabriel, lying and sneaking around aren't the ways to do it.

She straightens her shoulders and says, "I'm protecting him. It _is_ what you hired me to do."

"Is that what they're calling it these days?" Lillian mutters. She pinches the bridge of her nose, pressing her eyes shut as she takes a deep breath. When she looks back up at Riley, she's no less pissed, but she seems to be calmer, oddly. She braces her hands against the desk as she pins Riley with her gaze. "And why, pray tell, did you feel the need to seduce him in order to protect him?"

"Have you met Gabriel?" Riley asks without thinking. She cringes at the thunderous look on Lillian's face, but her resolve never waivers. She'd made this decision in the full light of day, without any illusions or expectations. She's not going to back down. Lillian had told her to protect him by any means necessary. _This_ , she'd deemed, was necessary. She sighs, resigned to explaining why her sex life is anyone's business but her own. "When he's on mission, he's focused. Determined. He can put everything aside and do whatever it takes to complete the mission, even if that means going a little off the reservation."

"A little?"

Lillian's voice is incredulous, but Riley has to give her that. Gabriel's a lot of things, but an adrenaline junkie he's not. He is, however, determined to never leave anyone behind, to complete the mission no matter the personal cost, and he's willing to do just about anything to make that happen. It was frightening the first two or three times it happened. Now, it's just SOP. What that says about her job doesn't bear thinking about.

"When he's on the job, he can be all about the job," Riley says, refocusing on problem. "When he's off the job, he gets restless. He gets stuck in his head, inside the render, rethinking, reliving. Second guessing. It's not good for him, so I try to distract him."

"With sex?" Lillian says, clearly shocked. "You do know that's not part of the job description. Your actual job stops when you leave here at the end of the day."

"With all due respect, my job never stops," Riley says. "You hired me to protect him. Let me decide when and how to do that."

"Even if it means protecting him from himself?"

"Especially if it means protecting him from himself."

"This is not what I had in mind when I assigned you to him," Lillian says after a moment's silence. She rubs at her forehead, looking tired all of a sudden, like this is just one problem too many for her to deal with. "Will this affect your judgment? Because if you're compromised, I'll have to take you off his detail. I'll have no choice."

Riley swallows. Is she compromised? Hell yes she's compromised. She was compromised the second he turned those baby blues on her and asked for her trust. And she'd _be_ compromised even if she wasn't having sex with him. _How is this her life?_

But what she says to Lillian is, "This isn't going to change how I protect him out in the field. If you haven't noticed a difference before now, then you have to know that's true."

"How long has this been going on?" Lillian's a little shocked, but her brain catches up to her mouth long before Riley's even decided whether or not she's willing to say. "Nevermind. I _do not_ want to know. Just… keep it out of the office. And if you ever feel like you're becoming compromised—"

"You'll be my first call," Riley says. "I promise."

Lillian gives her a long, measuring look before she nods. It isn't permission, tacit or otherwise, but it is an acknowledgement that maybe Riley knows what she's doing, whether or not what she's doing is wise. She's relieved that Lillian has that much faith in her, but at the same time, she knows their actions—her actions—are going to be under even more scrutiny from here on out. It's not a reassuring thought.

"May I ask how you knew?"

The words are out before Riley's even thought the question through, but she can't take them back now. And frankly, she needs to know. If she's given something away, she needs to know how not to make that mistake in the field.

"Gabriel hasn't been climbing the walls over his wife."

Riley frowns again. "Well, she's dead, so that might have something to do with it."

Lillian shakes her head, standing up and heading back around her desk. "If you knew Gabriel like I know Gabriel—and I'm sure you do at this point—then you'd know that Amelia's death won't stop him trying to figure her out. I'm his friend, despite the fact that I'm also his boss. Before you came along, he talked my ear off about finding her and figuring out what went wrong. Now? Clearly something's changed."

"And how does that equate to us having sex?" Riley asks.

"It doesn't." Lillian ghosts a smile. "But short of bugging his place and yours, my best option was to get you to admit to whatever you've been doing to help keep him from obsessing. Lord knows he won't tell."

And that's that. A Secret Service agent played by the head of CyberCom. She'd be embarrassed except for the fact that Lillian was practically raised on tradecraft. If she was going to get played, at least it was by the best.

"Go home, Riley," Lillian says before she can even begin to formulate a reply. "We'll start fresh tomorrow."

Riley nods warily, then heads for the door. She doesn't miss the double entendre in those words. Lillian's going to pretend they never had this conversation until or unless Riley or Gabriel gives her a reason not to. It's about as good an outcome as she could have hoped for. Now, she just has to explain to Gabriel how Mom's just busted them.

~o~

The monitor behind Lillian flickers to life, the cherubic face of Shenandoah Cassidy filling the screen.

"Did you get all that?"

"Yes, though I'm still not sure what you hoped to accomplish by confronting her," Cassidy says.

They'd gone around on this merry-go-round several times before Lillian had simply ordered him to listen in on the conversation. She's not nearly as objective as she'd like to be when it comes to Gabriel. Not that Cassidy's much better. Their erstwhile Geppetto is clearly enamored of his creation, and while he doesn't think Gabriel can do no wrong, he's not inclined to meddle in his life, greater good or not. 

And it's not that Lillian wants to, either, but she has to consider everything. They're talking about one of the most sophisticated assets the US Government possesses, and while she cringes at the idea that a man has been labeled an asset in the same way her laptop computer is an asset, she also knows they've invested too much in this project to let a little thing like Gabriel Vaughn's pathological unpredictability derail it.

"Just give me your honest opinion, Doc," she says, swiveling to face him. Her glasses are back on, and if it's a tell that she'd like some distance from this topic, well, she's not going to let it bother her. Cassidy's not steeped in tradecraft, so he's probably not even aware of what she's doing.

Cassidy shrugs. "My honest opinion is they're both adults. It's not our business what they get up to when they're off the clock."

"Doc," Lillian says. Her tone is both long-suffering and warning, because despite her earlier words, she really doesn't want to be having this conversation. But, it's her job, and she's never backed down from doing her job and she won't start now.

"Fine," Cassidy huffs. "Do I think her solution is wise? I don't know. I'm not an agent, I'm a scientist. Is it creative? Hell, yes. She saw a problem and fixed it using her unique abilities. I can't fault that, especially if she keeps Gabriel from going too far into his own head. Will it eventually blow up in her face? Hard to say. Gabriel's not a computer, nor was he intended to be, so a lot will depend on his own emotions concerning his wife's demise and how he reconciles those emotions with Riley's place in his life."

Lillian sighs. It's not what she wanted to hear, but then again, she's not even sure she knows what she wanted to hear.

"If I may," Cassidy says. Lillian nods. He takes a breath and pushes on. "I understand that you're dubious about this solution, but before you dismiss it out of hand, remember that you wanted them to present a united front. This will work a lot better if they're working with each other rather than against each other. If this is what it takes to forge that bond, then I think we should merely step back and allow it to unfold as it will. Trust that they know where their limits are and then allow them to function within them."

"Yeah," Lillian says, letting out the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Thanks, Doc."

"Anytime," Cassidy says, though his face says anything but.

The monitor winks out, and she's suddenly left with her own thoughts. Lillian's been at this game a long time, and knows that personal involvement only makes it more inevitable that something will go wrong. Remaining objective is the only sure-fire way to stay in control when the situation goes to shit. This situation, however, is anything but normal. So maybe, just maybe, the solutions have to be a little outside the box, too.

She only hopes that's not going to come back and bite them in the ass one day.

~o~

They're sprawled out on the bed in Gabriel's apartment, the sun hanging low in the sky painting the room in golds and reds. They haven't done anything more serious than a sensual kiss hello, despite the fact that their kiss led them to the bed. Gabriel's in no hurry; moments like these are rare, so he's learned to slow down and appreciate them. 

He knows it fascinates her, how he's able to just switch off the world and focus solely on her, but that was the whole point, that first time, and every time since. He'd been spending too much time inside his own head, inside the render, trying to untangle the knot his wife's become. He will never understand the part of Amelia that embraced the cover identity so fully that she became the lie. He will never stop trying to understand it, knows that he can't stop trying, no matter how much it tears him up inside. He can't forget, may never forgive, and instead of standing by and watching it destroy him, Riley takes the hit. She would say it's part of the job, and maybe it is; he doesn't know. 

What he does know is that he can give her this in return; long hours filled with sensuality, exploration, and the most intense orgasms either of them has ever experienced. It makes him glad that CyberCom keeps them busy, otherwise the temptation to stay in bed and never leave would be too great.

He has his hand under her shirt, his nose nuzzling that spot behind her ear that always makes her shiver and sigh. He's a hedonist; he craves skin-on-skin contact the way some people crave heroine, and it would be scary except for the fact that he's discovered she has a hidden kink for his hands, something he takes full advantage of.

"I talked to Lillian today," she says into the silence.

Gabriel doesn't miss a beat. He starts unbuttoning her shirt, caressing each inch of exposed flesh with his lips as he says, "And what did she want to talk about?"

Riley runs her fingers through his hair, letting the silken strands flow over her fingers in a feather-light touch. He pushes up into the contact like a cat chasing the hand that's petting it. "Us," she breathes out, low and quiet, just the hint of consternation in her voice.

"Mmmm, Mom's not happy," he says on a chuckle, continuing his trek down the valley between her breasts.

"No, she wasn't," Riley says. "But she didn't order us to stop, either."

"Smart woman," Gabriel says. "Knows when to take a stand and when to beat a strategic retreat."

Riley tugs on Gabriel's hair until his head rises enough for her eyes to meet his. "That doesn't bother you?"

"What, that she figured out what was going on?" He tilts his head. "Or that she assumed I have no idea what's really going on?"

Riley shrugs. "Both? Either?"

Gabriel settles back, propping his head on his hand, giving due consideration to the problem. On the one hand, it irks him that Lillian had a problem and didn't feel like she could come to him. They've known each other long enough—been through enough together—that she knows by now he'd rather hear it from her first. Still, he can't blame her for not wanting to have this conversation with him. His life—his past—is a minefield on a good day, so he can't exactly blame her for not wanting to put a foot wrong. Not even he knows what'll set him off half the time. On the other hand, it's really none of her business until or unless it starts to affect the job. And Gabriel's not about to let that happen. He may have wanted to chase off every person who'd held Riley's position before her, but there'll be no one after her. He'll make sure of it.

"I don't care what Lillian knows, or thinks she knows," he says into the ensuing silence. "You're my partner, and you have my back. You keep me from getting too lost in my own head, and I don't care if you have to do it by making yourself irresistible. You do it because you know I need it. That has weight where I come from."

Riley reaches up to caress his cheek. "I will always have your back, Gabriel. I'll always protect you."

"I know," he says, flashing that smile of his. Whole regimes have fallen in the face of that smile, so he knows she never stood a chance. "And I'll always come for you. I won't ever leave you behind."

He bends his head to take her lips in a sweet, searing kiss, his hand a warm weight on her belly as he loses himself in sensation. Their words aren't romantic, but they're not intended to be. This isn't a romance, in the traditional sense of the word. But it is a partnership, forged in fire and all the more precious because of it.

He knows no one else would ever understand why she's done what she's done, but he really doesn't care. The fact remains that she's gone out on a limb for him, and he's right there with her.

It's the least he can do for the woman who keeps his world from flying apart.

~Finis


End file.
